To me naming my child 'Viola' is like naming her Trumpet or something.

-- Anonymous User 1/1/2007

The instrument and name are said differently. If you're going to make comments comment correctly!Besides, the name has nothing to do with the "violin" as you so quaintly put it. Viola is a Shakespearean name and is incredibly rare these days which is a bonus (unlike Orlando and Jessica and Olivia, fellow Shakespearean names)

-- Anonymous User 1/19/2007

Viola has nothing to do with the violin, although there is a related instrument with this name. I think that Viola is a lovely name (when pronounced "vee-OH-la") and is quite underused.

In my home state of Illinois there is a small town called Viola. It's in the west-central region of the state. I think I remember that town better because Viola is also the name of my great-grandmother.

-- Anonymous User 5/10/2007

Beautiful name, although perhaps a bit like calling your kid Cello or Flute. Still, I might use it yet.

It could be used as a name for someone who is passionate about music and wants to name their child after their passion (like how they use famous musicians as names for their children). I mean I personally think it is a lovely name, with or without its musical association.

-- Anonymous User 6/19/2007

Amanda Bynes played Viola in the movie "She's the Man" (a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night"). Great movie, too.

I adore the name Viola! It is a great alternative to Violet, which is getting a bit too trendy for my tastes (at least in my area), and it's just a lovely name altogether. A nice combo I heard was Viola Frances. :)

Remember that this name has the stress on the second syllable, so it doesn't sound like 'violin' or 'violent'. It's an elegant, pretty name, but I don't really like names with a stressed 'o' sound. That's why I prefer Violet.

I love the play Twelfth Night where there is a character called Viola. Also at the very end of the film "Shakespeare in Love" there's a shot of Gwyneth Paltrow's character walking along the shore and the final voiceover saying something like "... And her name was... Viola" I really like that, and think Viola is a lovely, strong name (pronounced Vie(like sky) o - la. I've always pronounced the instrument as Vee (like see) - o - la.

I think Viola is a beautiful name. I love it. It sounds so gothic and romantic. I don't know why people are against it because a viola is an instrument. To me, that's a plus. How could anyone say "no" to the name Viola? It's passionate, elegant, warm and soulful.

-- Anonymous User 7/17/2009

Viola makes me think of the musical instrument, and it sounds very old-fashioned. Violet and similar names are so much nicer.

Viola was the name of a woman in Britain directly after the Roman occupation; she wrote one of the poems in admirable Latin inscribed on stones that archaeologists have been finding - the professor of Latin who read out her poem in a TV documentary today pronounced her name as VEE-uh-luh.

This is my name. Well, my middle name technically, but I've always been called Viola (pronounced vie ah lah). It's much nicer than the increasingly common Violet. It suits me well, and it will when I'm 80. :)

A famous bearer is American actress Viola Davis (born 11 August 1965). She's well-known for her stage work, including Tony Award-winning performances in "King Hedley II" and "Fences". Her best known film credit is "Doubt" (2008), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

The rules of pronunciation for this name are quite simple. When used as a girl's name or to refer to the flower, Viola is pronounced "VIE-ə-lə" or sometimes "vie-OH-lə". When referring to the musical instrument, the word is pronounced "vee-OH-lə" exclusively.

Viola is the name of one of the protagonists in Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night, and is one of the Bard's most popular heroines (probably because she's witty, charming and clever). I love the name, and it's much more sophisticated and unique than Violet (which is quite nice, but has a somewhat dated and dowdy ring to it that it is still struggling to shake off).

In Italy the name, which is considered very trendy and feminine nowadays, is pronounced Vee'ola (accent on the O which has an open and short sound, as in God). It means purple, and yes it it is the same name of a musical instrument, it is the name of a flower too, and was used by Shakespeare for one of his best heroines, but for sure it has nothing to do with rape as mentioned in a comment above. In Italian 'to rape' is 'violare' (Vee'olaray), quite formal and old fashioned expression anyway, the verb is more often used in its common meaning which is 'to break the rules or the constraints'. Vìola (accent on the I for a totally different sound and word becoming 'Veeola) corresponds to 'he rapes' in this case. By the way formal Italian requires that the name is written Viola and the verb Vìola, with the accent on the i. Of course the name requires the capital V which the verb does not. No possible confusions between the two for those who know the language then.The English pronunciation, Vy-ola with the y as in sky sounds unpleasant to Italians because it strictly recalls vaiolo, which is smallpox for us, besides sounding like a deformation of a name that in our perception belongs to us, but of course it is normal that names are adapted to the pronunciation of the cultures they are imported into.Funny how a lovely name can get nasty resonances just changing the way it is pronounced.

-- Anonymous User 9/10/2012

I want to like it, but I don't. I love violet, but a Viola is an instrument, and just doesn't sound like a name to me.